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Phantom Readers Strike Again

What are the chances this person is legit? You tell me!

If there’s anything positive about a high level of spam, it’s that it gives you the possibility to observe and spot the fake engagement that goes around this platform.

A while ago, I thought that there’s no way a real human would be so bored to engage (pun intended) in this boring fakery. I assumed they were AI bots or something, so I outed them.

Little did I know that it would come to bite me in my hairy behind when these people would later come out and claim innocence and accuse me of ruining their reputation.

I really wouldn’t give a rat ass about that since I was operating with proof and screenshots, and they were just saying “trust me” and playing the victim.

But innocent bystanders were easily impressed. Add into consideration that these bystanders thought that the ghost readers were actually engaging with their stories, maybe they felt a bit biased, like defending a friend.

Lesson learned. I will just use my blocking option on them without exposing them anymore. Just like I did earlier today.

But let’s take a moment to analyze the case to see if this person did anything wrong, or if I’m just overreacting. 👇

Timeline is based on the moment I took the screenshot.

A nice chap, who is also a Friend of Medium, clapped on three of my comments I left on three different articles written by my Medium friends.

Here’s my comment:

Here’s the article and the reading time of that article:

One minute after clapping on the first comment, he claps on the second one.

Here’s my comment:

And the reading time of the said article:

Okay, now the timeline seems more spaced out. So the screenshots below are here just to complete the sequence since the first two groups already made a strong case. But it will come in hand later if you keep on reading.

Here’s the last comment he clapped on:

And the post I commented on:

We have all the proof now, so let’s base our conclusion on it.

This is what the evidence points out

The accused clapped on my first comment 18 minutes ago, then on my second comment 17 minutes ago. This is a one-minute difference.

Now, if you assumed he read the two different articles I commented on, it would be quite impossible because the first article is 5 minutes long and the second one is 4 minutes long.

Let’s say he was honestly reading them, but just a bit trigger-finger happy on the claps. Would it make sense to clap on my comment before he actually reads the article itself?

Not really, right? So he most likely did not read the article. He just clapped on them and then went to the comment section, clapping on everyone who commented.

Unless the site is glitchy and shows the wrong timeline, that is. It would make sense for the site to show the notifications in descending order (time-wise: the new one first and the older one last) on the notification page, right?

Yet it didn’t. 👇

I added the former timeline 9 hours later (at the moment of writing this post) to show how they looked before I took separate screenshots of each. The individual screenshots I posted above confirm the timeline, despite the fact that they’re grouped in the wrong order on my notification page.

Even so, I’m inclined to trust the timeline more than the order in which the notifications appear.

My conclusion is that if he did not read my friends’ articles, he would not read mine either. He would just clap and run. Then clap on every comment in my articles’ comment section.

I have never interacted with this person before. If I had, I would have understood. But he never talked with me before. He’s basically a random stranger. Then, why would he clap on my comments?

Spamming me to get my attention, most likely. And that’s a no-go in my book. Off to the chopping block he went!

Let’s not forget the fake, scamming accounts either

These guys have gotten more persistent. I ban one, and another fake shows up later that day. Look at the time. 👇

First one:

Then, a few hours later, at 9 p.m., another one shows up:

It can’t be the same one, since I blocked it!

Congrats, Cipher Max , for your first and second identity thefts. You can say that you’re popular now. 😅

If you see these types of messages, report them by clicking or tapping on the three dots in the upper right corner.

Don’t report the account. Report the message so the Medium staff will know right away what they’re dealing with. Then, block the account.

Stay safe. Don’t take the bait, and don’t reach out to them. Otherwise, you might fall prey to viruses, hacking, and even further real-life identity theft!